「崇高」在電影音樂中的跨文化作法：李安的《少年Pi的奇幻漂流》

Abstract

本論文從李安的跨文化視角，討論「崇高」(the sublime)在《少年Pi的奇幻漂流》的概念與音樂表現。 「崇高」是音樂學研究中經常被討論的主題之一。音樂學者討論音樂中的「崇高」時，在概念上，經常指由特定宗教所引發的「崇高」感受，或是援引康德在《判斷力批判》一書中所提到的美學思想；在音樂上，也往往以18、19世紀的西方藝術音樂為研究對象，非西方傳統的「崇高」概念及其音樂表現方式則甚少被提及。此外，儘管近年來學界對電影音樂有愈來愈多的關注，目前亦尚未看到以「崇高」為主題的電影音樂研究。 李安最近的一部作品《少年Pi的奇幻漂流》(2012) (以下簡稱《Pi》片)在多處涉及宗教、大自然與自然災難等等議題，而這些正是西方傳統中對「崇高」常見到的討論；但同時，片中不論是劇情內容或是音樂表現，都與西方傳統的「崇高」大不相同。就概念而言，電影中Pi在面對「無限大」（例如：片中浩瀚、幽深的海洋）與「無法掌控」（例如：片中無法預測的船難、暴風雨、失去家人等等）的對象時，Pi的態度呈現了亞洲宗教哲學「內省」、「無欲」、「自我解脫」的特色：藉由「向內沉潛」、「放下」，達到「自我救贖」。就音樂而言， Pi片音樂在表達此「崇高」概念時，除了以較和緩的速度之外，還使用到三個主要手法：「和聲停駐」、「旋律反覆」、「終止式四級到一級」，此三手法分別都與「向內潛沉」、「放下」有關聯。 透過影音分析，筆者希望能藉由此文回答下列三個問題：1.在《Pi》片中，如何呈現「崇高」的相關概念？2.這些概念如何以音樂、聲音、影音關係來表現？3.這些概念與表現方式如何有別於西方藝術音樂與電影音樂對於「崇高」的理解？筆者希望透過此文章，來探索目前學界對於「崇高」主題的討論，在西方神學、哲學、美學的脈絡之外，其它文化觀點的可能性。

This paper focuses on the sublime in the film Life of Pi from Ang Lee’s cross-cultural perspective. The sublime has been a popular topic among musicological studies. In most of these studies, the sublime refers to either the feelings aroused by a particular religion, or the aesthetic value mentioned in Kant’s Critique of Judgment. Their research subjects center on the late eighteenth-century Western repertories, such as works from Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Little has the musical sublime of non-Western music been discussed. In addition, despite growing concerns about film music, few studies have examined the notion of the sublime in film music. Ang Lee’s film, Life of Pi, (Ang Lee, 2012) involves the issues of religion, natural disaster, which are also commonly referred to in discussion of the sublime in Western tradition. However, both the concept and musical signification of the sublime in Life of Pi are distinctly different from the ones discussed so far in the academia. Different from “a process of self-transcendence aroused by reason” (as in the Kantian sublime), Pi’s attitude toward the limitless and the overwhelming power shows “introversion”, “letting go”, and “self-salvation”. Except for mild tempo, the film music uses “stasis chord progression”, “repeated melodies”, and “plagal cadence” to express “introversion” and “letting go”. Through detailed analysis, I try to explore (1) the concept of sublime being presented in Life of Pi (2) the ways of how this concept is connected with the music, sound and intermedia (medias including music/sound, image, synopsis, plots, etc.) interaction in the film (3) the differences between the sublime in Life of Pi and what is hitherto found in the academia. With this multimedia analysis I hope to bring up a discussion of the sublime in film music from a cross- cultural perspective.